wonderful

This is one of the best audiobooks I have purchased. For one, the narration is perfect. My only exposure to Richard Ford was short stories. I liked this book very much and I can say I don't know any other writer who writes like him. He slows down to lay out the history and his philosophy on every character and event. It's like watching someone crack a hardboiled egg and pull off a tiny shell fragment at a time.

26 people found this helpful

Just incredible

Once finished. Went back to beginning and started again. Love, love, love. Ford rides so high.

5 people found this helpful

Plodding, overwrought, self-indulgent

There are many moments during this 14-plus-hour listen when I found myself wanting to slap the protagonist, the author, the narrator or all three. Richard Ford must hate trees.

5 people found this helpful

The best part of The Sportswriter

The best part was that it finally ended. I kept telling myself that it would eventually become good, or at least interesting. But alas, it just finally ended. I can't believe there's two more books with this lead character. I can believe I won't be listening to them. BTW, nice job by the narrator though.

4 people found this helpful

Listen to the last 15 minutes

Tedious day by day story. Will try another Richard Ford book to see if there is more to them. Only OK.

3 people found this helpful

Bold writing: Strong on Character, not Story

What made the experience of listening to The Sportswriter the most enjoyable?

The author is a bold, clear writer with an ability to paint a great portrait. The narrator was well suited to the task.

What do you think your next listen will be?

Something with more of a story.

What about Richard Poe’s performance did you like?

I thought he seemed genuine.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

No.

Any additional comments?

I found it hard to understand both as a woman and as a person who values conflict resolution. While the character is strong, the internal conflict slides away into what? A person who seems to drift through his life, with seemingly little consciousness of the potential for transcendence. Frustrating.

3 people found this helpful

Boring, horrible book

I kept listening thinking it would get better, but it doesn't. He jumps all over the place. I hated the characters, all of them. His "X" was stupid, his girlfriend, dumb. Walter was weird and needed to be slapped and The Sports Writer himself needed to be shot to put him out of everyone's misery. Don't waste your money.

3 people found this helpful

I'm torn....

I am torn as to whether to continue this series. As a middle aged man trying to figure out how to continue to be happy in a world where everything around him is changing, I searched out books that might include people/characters going through the same thing (you'd be amazed what a search for "mid-life crisis" turns up).

I sympathized with Frank's lack of clarity, direction, etc. I certainly understood his trying to grasp on to clearly dysfunctional things in order to try and find happiness. But, I didn't find him particularly likable or compelling. I found myself wanting him to take bolder steps, to take himself out of bad situations, to take more control of his life.

The book is very well written. I did find the overt racism in the book jarring, a bygone of a worse time in our history. It took me out of the story quite often. The narration is spot on and very compelling.

Still can't decide whether to give the second book a shot......

2 people found this helpful

Thoughts of a shallow scumbag. For HOURS

Richard Poe did a fine job, primarily because the sound of his voice is so nice that he could read the phone book (if we still had phone books) but even he can’t make a piece of nothing into something.

This book has no plot or storyline. It is the stream of consciousness of a 39 year old man over a weekend. Unfortunately, he is not an interesting, particularly intelligent or deep thinking man so his run on musings aren’t profound or interesting either. All the thoughts that run through a below average man (let’s hope so because if this guy is typical, my worst fear that men are stupid is true).
I am confused that this book not only has a sequel but that sequel won the Pulitzer Prize! Neither this book nor it’s sequel is anywhere near the quality of other Pulitzer winners (“the Cider House Rules”, “Gone With The Wind”, “To Kill A Mockingbird”, “American Pastural” to name a few,come to mind).

Imagine the most boorish man you can, who loves the sound of his own voice and talks non stop, about every boring, minute detail of his shallow life.
Run away. Run far away.

2 people found this helpful

Boring

Sorry, I gave this an hour or two and found nothing of interest. It was like listening to the guy next door go into detail about where he bought his socks. Who cares?

2 people found this helpful